Even if one wonders again and again how the waltz is connected to the Hamburg-born composer, it should not be overlooked that the apparently typical dance from Vienna was composed throughout Europe before Brahms was born and the first printed editions appeared in Leipzig. The waltzes that Brahms composed to texts from Georg Friedrich Daumer’s “Polydora” collection are just as polyglot. Free adaptations of international folk poems that would have been forgotten long ago without the ingenious music. These texts are ideal for the two collections of 18 and 15 songs, written for a solo quartet and piano four hands, and are a pleasure to listen to.
A well-balanced ensemble
Especially when an ensemble that is so competent and, despite the delicate acoustics in the museum hall, harmonizes well, takes on the task and goes to work with good text clarity and finely polished humor, but also tender sentiment. Elisabeth Breuer (soprano), Martha Hirschmann (alto), Johannes Bamberger (tenor) and mentor of the vocalists Andreas Lebeda (baritone) were convincing both in the solo passages and in the fine duets and ensemble pieces. Daniela Dawn Fietzek and Andrea Szewieczek sat at the piano, skilfully immersing themselves in the multifaceted universe of waltzes and intoning sonorous six waltzes from Brahms’ op. 39 as a connection between the two cycles.
Source: Nachrichten
